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Big E
| birth_place = Tampa, Florida | death_date = | death_place = | resides = | billed = Tampa, Florida | trainer = FCW staff | debut = 2009 | retired = }} Ettore Ewen (March 1, 1986) better known by his former ring name Big E Langston and currently performing as Big E, is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the Smackdown brand and is a five-time WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champion. He is a one-time Intercontinental Champion, and was also a former NXT Champion while at WWE's developmental brand, NXT. He is a five-time WWE Tag Team Champion with Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston. He is also a national powerlifting champion who has set multiple national and state records in the raw division. Early years Ewen was born in Tampa, Florida to Afro-Caribbean immigrant Eltore and Margaret Ewen. He attended Wharton High School, where he won a number of athletic honors, including being named Hillsborough County's "Ironman of the Year". Upon graduating from Wharton, Ewen attended the University of Iowa, where he played football as a defensive lineman for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Ewen was redshirted in 2004 and missed the 2005 season due to an injury sustained in pre-season camp, playing a single season as a sophomore in 2006. Ewen graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. As a Florida high school wrestling state champion and a Division I college football letter winner, Ewen competed in a number of different athletic disciplines at an elite level before turning his attention to the sport of powerlifting. His debut was in 2009. Powerlifting career The 24-year old Ewen competed in his first U.S.A. Powerlifting (USAPL) meet on July 11 at the fifth annual United States Open Championships 2010 at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida. He became not only the top heavyweight lifter but also broke all four Florida state raw powerlifting records in the 275-pound class and bested raw national records in the deadlift and total. His lifts included a 611-pound squat, a 490-pound bench press and a 749-pound deadlift for a 1,851 pound raw total. Ewen also won the USAPL Raw Nationals 2011 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This time he competed in the super heavyweight division (+275) and broke the raw American and national records in the deadlift (799 lbs) and total (2,039 lbs) in this weight class as well. Although all of his national and American raw records were broken in 2011 and 2012 by Michael Tuchscherer, Brad Gillingham and Randall Harris, Ewen still holds the USAPL Florida State Raw Records in deadlift and total in the SHW division as well as all four raw powerlifting records in the 275-pound class. Professional wrestling career World Wrestling Entertainment (2009–present) Developmental territories (2009–2012) In 2009, Ewen signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was assigned to its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where he adopted the ring name "Big E Langston". On December 17, 2009 he made his FCW debut teaming with Justin Gabriel, Skip Sheffield & Titus O'Neil to defeat Dawson Alexander, Donny Marlow, Jimmy Uso & Lennox McEnroe. On May 12, 2011, Langston and Calvin Raines defeated Richie Steamboat and Seth Rollins to win the Florida Tag Team Championship. On July 21, Langston and Raines lost the Florida Tag Team Title to C.J. Parker and Donny Marlow. He participated in Super Eight Tournament but was knocked out in the first round by Husky Harris. Langston would team up Nick Rogers to beat the debuting Jiro and Sakamoto, this would lead into a shot at the Florida Tag Team Champions Brad Maddox and Briley Pierce which the team lost. In February Langston participated in FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship number one contendership battle royal which was won by Seth Rollins. On February 11, 2012, Ewen defeated Heath Slater at a SmackDown house show. As part of WrestleMania Axxess he beat Antonio Cesaro. Alliance with AJ Lee and Dolph Ziggler; NXT Champion (2012–2013) In 2012, Ewen, as Big E Langston, debuted on the August 1 episode of WWE NXT taped at Full Sail University, where he defeated Adam Mercer. This marked the start of a winning streak for Langston, who from September started repeatedly hitting his finishing maneuver on his opponents and demanding the referee to use a five count instead of a three count during his pins. After Langston rejected Vickie Guerrero's managerial services, Guerrero promised a $5,000 bounty to anyone who could put Langston "on the shelf"; but attempts to claim the bounty by Chad Baxter and Camacho were firmly squashed by Langston, while the bounty was later declared void by commissioner Dusty Rhodes. On the December 6 tapings of NXT, which aired on January 9, Langston faced the NXT Champion and Shield member Seth Rollins in a no disqualification title match; Langston defeated Rollins to win the title. On December 17, 2012 episode of Raw, Langston made his WWE main roster debut as a heel by assaulting John Cena at the behest of AJ Lee. As Dolph Ziggler became AJ's boyfriend, Langston also allied himself with Ziggler and he would frequently help Ziggler by interfering in his matches. Ziggler and Langston challenged Kane and Daniel Bryan of Team Hell No for the Tag Team Championships at Wrestlemania XXIX but failed. During the following weeks, Langston began having a stronger screen-push as he started wrestling more during the weekly showings. Leading towards the pay-per-view match at Extreme Rules, Langston wrestled in a unique triple-threat match pitting him against the managers of Ziggler's opponents for Extreme Rules: Ricardo Rodriguez (for Alberto Del Rio) and Zeb Colter (for Jack Swagger). After Ziggler's concussion sustained during the [[May 10, 2013 Smackdown results|May 10 episode of Friday Night Smackdown]], the triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship was changed to an "I Quit Match" between Del Rio and Swagger. During the following weeks, Langston received stronger in-ring appearances while Ziggler was out recovering from his concussion. Langston continued the feud against Del Rio in a series of matches ranging in victories and losses between both men across the Raw, Smackdown and Main Event programs. On the June 10 episode of Raw Langston was revealed as then Diva's Champion Kaitlyn's secret admirer. This was in turn a ploy to humiliate Kaitlyn at the hands of Lee. Fallout with Ziggler/New Alliance with A.J. Lee (2013) On the [[July 15, 2013 Monday Night RAW results|July 15 episode of Monday Night Raw]], the night after Money in the Bank, Big E. Langston would effectively side with A.J. after Ziggler dumped her backstage, declaring they were "done" as a power couple due to A.J.'s actions costing Ziggler his title match against Del Rio at Money in the Bank. After A.J. once again distracted Ziggler during his match that night against Del Rio on Raw, she went on to order Langston to attack and decimate the already-vulnerable Ziggler. On the [[July 19, 2013 Smackdown results|July 19 episode of Friday Night Smackdown]], both Langston and A.J. watched Ziggler's match backstage against Jack Swagger. After winning the match, Ziggler commented on his break-up with Lee stating he was "sorry for not doing it sooner". This sparked an initial breakdown by A.J., hearing Ziggler's post-match comments. It was then that Langston, in a bizarre turn, kissed Lee's head and promptly exited the backstage. During the second hour of Monday Night Raw, Langston attempted to attack Ziggler again at the behest of A.J., after Ziggler's match with Darren Young. Ziggler however, out-maneuvered Langston and escaped unscathed. During the opening half-hour of the [[August 9, 2013 Smackdown results|August 9, Friday Night Smackdown]] Langston and A.J. were guests on Miz TV. After enduring taunts by Kaitlyn and Ziggler who also joined the segment, it was announced by SummerSlam Host The Miz, that Langston and A.J. would face Kailtyn and Ziggler in a tag match. Singles Competition (2013-2014) By the end of the 2013 summer, Langston had split from A.J. and began competing alone. He wrestled one of his successful singles match on the September 11 edition of WWE Main Event, defeating R-Truth. During the month of October, Langston began teaming with CM Punk after being disrespected by Paul Heyman and his stable of "Paul Heyman Guys". Langston first aided CM Punk during an attack by Heyman's clients Ryback and Curtis Axel. This alliance with CM Punk, who was already feuding with Heyman, Ryback and Axel, signaled a face-turn for Langston. On the October 21st edition of Monday Night Raw, Langston crossed paths with Axel and Ryback backstage during an interview with Paul Heyman. Langston and Axel went on to have a match that night and it was later announced that the two would face each other at Hell in a Cell for Axel's Intercontinental Championship during the Hell in the Cell Kick-off show. Feud with The Shield (2013) Beginning in late October 2013, Langston engaged in a feud with The Shield. Langston challenged for Dean Ambrose's United States Championship resulting in defeat and a minor injury to both men including a noticeable cut under Langston's eye and a cut under Ambrose's chin. Both men had between seven and eight stitches. In the following weeks, Langston began teaming with The Uso Brothers, joining in their storied rivalry with the Shield. On the October 28 episode of Monday Night Raw, Langston faced Ambrose in a rematch for the US Title, resulting in disqualification after the rest of the Shield interfered and attacked Langston. This drew out The Uso Brothers who came and defended Langston. On the November 1 episode of Smackdown, Langston joined The Usos at ringside during their tag match against Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. The Usos defeated The Shield after pinning Ambrose. Afterwards Langston and The Usos confronted Roman Reigns who was ushered away by his retreating teammates. Throughout the following weeks in December, Langston would join forces with high-profile "faces" including CM Punk and John Cena, as again Langston would come to the ring to save Punk and/or Cena from assaults by The Shield. On a singles-level, Langston continued his feud with Dean Ambrose. However, there were other occasions where a potential confrontation between Roman Reigns and Langston was hinted at. On the December 27 episode of Smackdown, Langston and his new tag team partner Mark Henry, joined Cena in repelling an ambush by The Shield during the start of the show. It was announced by Director of Operations Kane that all six men would face each other in singles competition as part of the night's main event. Langston went on to defeat Dean Ambrose in their matchup. He and partner Mark Henry later that night aided Cena in his match against Seth Rollins allowing for Cena to pick up the win. Intercontinental Championship (2013-2014) During the [[November 18, 2013 Monday Night RAW results|November 18th episode of Monday Night Raw]] on the Raw Country special held in Nashville, Tennessee, Langston defeated Curtis Axel for the Intercontinental Championship. This would mark Langston's first title reign. Langston would once again defeat Axel in his return match at Survivor Series. Langston then started a feud with Damien Sandow after Sandow became the number one contender for his title. This would set a match between the two at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view, which Langston was able to win. He successfully went on to defend his championship during the week before WrestleMania XXX, against former ally/rival Dolph Ziggler. Both men had been announced as participants of the first-ever Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX that was eventually won by Antonio Cesaro. The following night on the April 7, RAW show, Big E teamed with John Cena and Sheamus in a losing effort against the The Wyatt Family after Big E was pinned by Bray Wyatt. Big E lost the Intercontinental Championship at Extreme Rules to Bad News Barrett. Big E then started feuding with Rusev and lost to Rusev at Payback and lost to Rusev again at Money in The Bank. Big E failed to win the Intercontinental Championship battle royal at Battleground. A New Day (2014-Present) On the July 21, 2014 episode of Raw, after Big E and Kofi Kingston suffered another loss as a team, Xavier Woods confronted them, declaring that they could not "get ahead by kissing babies and shaking hands". Instead, it would be "their time" to "take". The duo accepted Woods' offer, and on the next day's Main Event, Woods managed Big E and Kingston to a decisive victory over Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil. However, Woods' group quickly and quietly disbanded, as on the August 8 episode of SmackDown and on the August 12 episode of Main Event, both Big E and then Kingston reverted to wrestling singles matches with no sign or mention of the other two members of the group. Despite being disbanded on WWE television, Big E, Kingston and Woods maintained their alliance at live events. From the November 3 episode of Raw, WWE began airing vignettes for Big E, Kingston and Woods, with the stable now being billed as "A New Day". On the Kickoff show for TLC 2014, The New Day put on an impressive performance when Big E & Kingston defeated the former WWE Tag Team Champions Gold & Stardust. The duo was defeated, however, by the team of Cesaro & Tyson Kidd on the Royal Rumble Kickoff. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Big Ending'' (Over the shoulder cutter) *'Signature moves' **''E-Train'' (Running body block) **Running body press ** Running turnbuckle thrust **Running jumping splash **Multiple knee lifts **Repeated body tackles **Body slam **Body toss **Back body drop **Backbreaker ** Belly-to-Booty (Overhead/Side belly to belly suplex) ** Gorilla press slam ** Suicide spear *'Entrance themes' **"I Can't Keep Still" by KPM Music (FCW / WWE; August 1, 2012–April 24, 2013) **"I Need Five" by Jim Johnson (WWE; April 22, 2013 – November 18, 2013) ** "Three Ain't Enough" 'by Jim Johnston (WWE; November 13, 2014 – present) ** '"New Day, New Way" by Jim Johnston (WWE; used while a part of The New Day) *'Teams and stables' :*'The New Day' (with Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) Championships and accomplishments *'Florida Championship Wrestling / NXT Wrestling' **Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Calvin Raines **NXT Championship (1 time) *'World Wrestling Entertainment' **WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time) **WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) - As a member of The New Day w/ Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods **WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship ([[WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship/Champion history|5 times, Current]]) - As a member of The New Day w/ Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI ranked him #'215' of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011 External links * WWE.com Profile * Profile * Profile Category:Florida Championship Wrestling alumni Category:American wrestlers Category:1986 births Category:2009 debuts Category:NXT Champions Category:Powerlifters Category:Florida wrestlers Category:WWE Intercontinental Champions Category:African American wrestlers Category:World Wrestling Entertainment current roster Category:WWE NXT alumni Category:Former football players Category:Former amateur wrestlers Category:Living people Category:Male wrestlers Category:WWE Tag Team Champions Category:Elimination Chamber Match alumni Category:Security and Bodyguards Category:FCW Florida Tag Team Champions